Over the past 15 years, much scholarly attention has been paid to the ‘People’s War’ started by the then Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) in 1996 and its consequences. This roundtable brings together leading Nepali and foreign scholars and analysts of this field to give their assessments of the achievements and shortcomings of the anthropological, historical and journalistic writings on the subject.

Marie Lecomte-Tilouineis a social anthropologist at CNRS, France. She has most recently edited Revolution in Nepal: An Anthropological and Historical Approach to the People’s War (2013).

John Whelpton has authored, co-authored and co-edited several books related to Nepal including A History of Nepal (2005).

Deepak Thapa is the director of Social Science Baha. He has co-authored A Kingdom under Siege: Nepal’s Maoist Insurgency, 1996-2003 (2003) and edited Understanding the Maoist Movement of Nepal (2003).

CK Lal is a political analyst and a columnist for Nagarik and República dailies. He is the author of To be a Nepalese (2012).

Kiyoko Ogura is a journalist and the author of Kathmandu Spring: The People’s Movement of 1990 (2001) and several articles on the ‘people’s war’.